Tech For The Day: 8 Morning

This Is The Best Tech To Get You Through Your Morning

Sleep Cycle - The smart alarm app that started this whole trend. If you have an iPhone and don’t have an activity bracelet, this is still an incredibly easy app to recommend at just $0.99 on iTunes

Sleep As Android - Our favorite sleep cycle alarm on the green team. Comes with all the same functionality as Sleep Cycle, but is free initially. If you wish to unlock advanced features like Philips Hue integration, the unlocked version costs $3.69. Free at Play.Google.com

Jawbone Up - There are dozens of activity trackers on the market now all with their own pros and cons. If you want advanced fitness functions, the Basis band might be a better pick. If you want something in the middle of the road, the Jawbone Up is a good place to start.$99.00 at Amazon.com

Smart Things - Welcome to the world of home automation. Smart Things is the gateway drug of the smart home ecosystem. Picking up a starter kit will give you some basic functionality, like motion sensing and a location-aware dongle for your keychain, but this is just the start. Pretty soon you’ll be hooking up everything from your air conditioner to the coffee machine with SmartThings and controlling it all with a few taps on your phone. $199.00 at Smartthings.com

Philips Hue - It isn’t the only way to give you remote control of the lighting in your home, but it’s definitely the simplest. Picking up a Hue kit is a pretty safe bet, since it plays nice with any home intelligence solutions on the market today. $199.00 at Meethue.com

IFTTT - If This Then That is a free and easy-to-use web service that lets all your apps and connected devices talk to each other through user-created “recipes.” Choose an event trigger, like FitBit sensing that you’ve woken up, and an action, like your Philips Hue lights turning on in your bedroom. It’s free, and you don’t have to know anything about writing code to use it. Free on iTunes

WeMo Light Switch - WeMo is Belkin’s solution to the home-automation craze. Luckily you can start small by just picking up a Wi-Fi-enabled light switch to start automating a single set of lights in your house. Be careful though -- smart-ifying your house can be addictive. You’ve been warned. $44.99 at Belkin.com

Heatworks Model 1 - Your water heater is probably one of the last things you would think to make smarter in your home, but once you hear the pitch for Heatworks, you’ll be sold. It can work as a standalone water heater or play nice in conjunction with your existing water heater. Choose from different temperature profiles for different places like your kitchen sink and your shower. It can heat the water to whatever temperature you want in under three seconds, and can keep the temperature there indefinitely. No more unstable temperatures in the shower, and no more running out of hot water before your shower's up. Pre-Order at MyHeatWorks.com

Schlage Camelot Touchscreen Deadbolt - This is our favorite smart door lock on the market right now. Not only will it let you unlock your door automatically when you walk within range, it also has a touchscreen with multiple programmable codes for different members of your household or guests. And if you’re worried about the technology failing, don’t worry -- it still has a traditional key as well, although we doubt you’ll ever want to use it again. $183.42 at Schlage.com